_Herodi D. Jacobum obtruncanti._ Act. xii. 2.
Nescis Jacobus quantum hunc tibi debeat ictum,
Quaeque tua in sacrum saeviat ira caput.
Scilicet ipso illi donasti hoc ense coronam,
Quo sacrum abscideras scilicet ense caput.
Abscissum pensare caput quae possit abunde,
Sola haec tam saeva et sacra corona fuit.
{En men, Iakobe, kephalen toi xiphos aperen,
Hen tode kai stephanon xiphos edoke teon.
Mounon ameibesthai kephalen, Iakobe, dynaito,
Keinos hod' hos kalos martyriou stephanos.}
_To Herod beheading St. James._
Know'st not how much James owes thee for this stroke,
Or how on his blest head thine anger broke.
Lo, to himself a crown thou dost accord
Forsooth with that selfsame beheading sword.
Only this sacred sanguinary crown
That sunder'd head was able to weigh down. R. WI.